The
shura would need to determine the roles and required numbers of ‘active’ or
more ‘general’ project participant positions, and nominate villagers to be engaged in
these roles each project year, according to various criteria such as aptitude (for
training as a laboratory technician or administrator), access to securable land (for
farmers), farming experience (for harvesters), and commitment to the project aims
(for security guards). In such a project format, other villagers not actively engaged
in a specific capacity would still play a role in helping to secure the project village, by
monitoring other project participants and reporting potential spoilers to the
shura.
| Decisions on accrual and dispersal of revenues from medicine sales to project participants |
|
On behalf of the active project participants, the
shura would also need to decide the
manner in which revenues would be distributed, via the formal village business entity,
to the various project participants. Depending on the needs of the project village, it
might be necessary to disburse revenue payments to project participants gradually
over the length of the project, similar to wages or a salary. Alternatively, the
shura
could choose to make lump sum payments to project participants at the end of a
project cycle, once the locally-produced medicines have been sold.
Further, the
shura
could decide that villagers’ needs would best be met using a ‘split’ lump sum payment
system, whereby a proportion of the project participant’s eventual share of the
revenues is delivered upfront to cover their costs throughout the project, with the
remainder dispersed at the end of the project cycle.
An essential element of the village-based Poppy for Medicine counter-narcotics
model is compulsory economic diversification to phase out reliance on poppy
cultivation. This economic diversification can be facilitated by allocating a
significant proportion of the revenues from sales of locally-produced medicines into a
special village account or fund, from which villagers could draw on to finance new
business opportunities and community projects.25 The proportion of the revenues from
medicine sales that would be channelled into such an economic diversification fund,
and the ways in which project participants would access this fund would depend on
the agreed upon project format. In a larger village
Poppy for Medicine project in
which not all villagers play an active role, the remuneration of the more ‘general’
project participants would consist of access to the village economic diversification
fund under micro-finance principles.
| Define project participant roles |
|
In consultation with potential project participants, Afghan government
representatives, and international development experts, the
shura would need to
generate specific job descriptions and selection criteria for each role within the Poppy
for Medicine project. These job descriptions would then determine the ‘pay grade’ or
proportion of the revenues the project participants in particular roles would receive. A
project would require a number of land-holding farmers to cultivate the poppy raw
materials, a larger number of farm workers to harvest the materials, trained
technicians to transform the raw poppy materials into finished medicines, as well as
record-keepers, security guards, and project leaders or supervisors. The
shura would
then nominate those villagers who meet the selection criteria for engagement in the
project.
The important role of farmers in Poppy for Medicine projects
The role of the farmers in a
Poppy for Medicine project is particularly important.
Responsible for the successful cultivation and harvesting of the raw poppy materials
from which the medicines would be manufactured, those villagers engaged as project
farmers would be using their own land for the benefit of the entire village. As such,
the
shura would also need to decide whether project farmers would receive additional
payments for the use of their land and/or the quantity and quality of the raw poppy
materials produced by the farmer.
Set project’s annual timeline
Using its unique insights into a project village’s agricultural and economic cycles, the
shura would also determine the precise timing of the production of poppy-based
medicines, in terms of cultivation, harvest, transformation period. In consultation
with village farmers, the
shura would decide on the necessary agricultural inputs for
the project and the optimal planting period, and would generate initial estimates as to
the timing of the harvest and potential yield.28 In conjunction with international
development experts, these estimates would then be used to develop initial models
and plans for economic diversification.
